Farming and the law

It’s 9:45am and the San Bernardino County Inspector was supposed to be here at 9:30am. Hopefully she won’t be much later. I’m very nervous. Not because I think there’s anything wrong with our kitchen, but because once you invite county onto your property, they now are looking around at everything. I might get approval for this Cottage Operations Permit, but I might get 10 other citations for who knows what else. I’m praying that it goes well. We’ve had county out enough times for our farmstay permit so hopefully anything they would pick on is already taken care of. 9:57… still…

Well I went back into county to turn in my application and fee. After sitting and waiting for an hour, I was finally able to turn in the application. The worker made a photocopy of it for my records and an extra photocopy of the back of the application where I could write and sign: “I agree to abide by the 17 restrictions.” I have no idea why I had to write this because there is a place to sign on the bottom of the application that you agree to abide by the restrictions. *sigh* They wouldn’t take my fee,…

Monsanto already dominates America’s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation’s tactics–ruthless legal battles against small farmers–is its decades-long history of toxic contamination. Reprint from Vanity Fair by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele No thanks: An anti-Monsanto crop circle made by farmers and volunteers in the Philippines. By Melvyn Calderon/Greenpeace HO/A.P. Images. Gary Rinehart clearly remembers the summer day in 2002 when the stranger walked in and issued his threat. Rinehart was behind the counter of the Square Deal, his “old-time country store,” as he calls it, on the fading…

Yea! We have moved forward a teensy bit in the permitting process! We finally got ahold of Heidi-our new county liaison. She put in writing, IN WRITING PEOPLE, what she was going to do for us and how much we’d need to pay and how long things would take. AMAZING. It’s taken more than a year, but we’ve now been promised that the Site Plan Permit is what we need and that we won’t have to dish out anymore cash. Halleluia. So a year after starting the permit process and turning in our original site plan permit, we are now…

Getting our permit for some of the activities we want to do at the ranch has been slightly frustrating…ok, it’s been a pain in the rear. HOWEVER, we’ve made some excellent progress with San Bernardino county officials and it looks like we’re finally going to get our permit to go through. I had the sense of mind to join the Lucerne Valley Economic Development Association-I figured what helped Lucerne helped me and if our business did better it would help Lucerne. There, I met the formidable Beverly Lowry-our field representative and community liaison. James Ramos, county supervisor, said about her:…

I am so disappointed. I don’t think there’s anything else to say, but I will tell you why I’m disappointed. Not only is the research showing GMOs being super dangerous, but I was looking forward to being healthier. When I lived in Europe for a time, I ate all grass fed meats and no GMOs. This was easy to do because that’s just how everything is raised in Ireland. You don’t have to carry around a Non-GMO shopping guide or pay exorbitant prices for grass fed meat. It’s just the way it is. When I was living in Ireland, all…

By Dr. Meg Howe http://prepare4change.blogspot.com/2010/12/sad-day-for-food-freedom.html Formerly called Food Safety Bill S510, this Bill is NOT About Food Safety. It is a draconian piece of legislation that literally places food under the control of the Department of Homeland Security, the organization created supposedly for foreign terrorists. Now, the DHS has the legal power to seize food production, force recalls, and shut down any farms it deems unsafe. This includes your backyard garden – should you want to sell anything you produce on your land, or even give away to a neighbor.So it is now a revolutionary act to grow your own…

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